History

The Alfa Romeo 105 and 115 series coupés are a range of cars made by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1963 until 1977, based on a shortened floorpan from the Giulia saloon. They were the successors to the Giulietta Sprint coupé.

Together with the Giulia 1300 Ti, the GT 1300 Junior pioneered the use of ATE disc brakes as later fitted throughout the 105 series, replacing the Dunlop discs on earlier cars. The first few GT 1300 Juniors lacked a brake servo, and had the low rear wheelarches of the Giulia Sprint GT and Giulia Sprint GTV. From 1967, a servo was fitted as standard, together with higher rear wheelarches as adopted later on the 1750 GTV.

There were two versions of the ATE brakes: The first version consisted of an ATE adapter 105.14.22.103.03/04 on Dunlop front uprights (105.14.21.010.00,105.14.21.011.00) using an ATE caliper also optioned on the GT Veloce 1600 in 1967 (on 1000 cars as per group 2, FIA). The second version consisted of one piece ATE uprights 105.14.21.010.03, 105.14.21.011.03 with no adapter plate using an ATE caliper. Fusi's book on page 846 lists 340 RHD GT 1300 Juniors were made in 1972. Record exist on the Classic Alfa Romeo register of a RHD GT 1300 Junior which was made and delivered to the UK in 1972 AR 1296169. The 1300 GTj could not race under FIA rules with aluminum doors and boot lid. Source FIA documents, Alfa Romeo parts manual, Fusi's book and Steve105.

In 1968, concurrently with the replacement of the Giulia Sprint GT Veloce by the 1750 GTV, the GT 1300 Junior was revised with many of the new parts from the 1750 GTV. This included the dashboard, the suspension and the new wheel size of 5½ × 14J instead of 4½ × 15J. This revised GT 1300 Junior, however, retained the early "step-front" body style, which makes it the most mechanically refined production "step-front" model. Another intriguing detail is that, just as on the 1750 GTV, the remote release for the boot (trunk) lid, located on the inside of the door opening on the B-post just under the door lock striker, was moved from the right hand side of the car to the left hand side. The location of this item was always independent of whether the car was left hand drive or right hand drive. This series of GT 1300 Junior was the only model with the step-front bodyshell to have this item mounted on the left hand side. All other step-front models - Giulia Sprint GT, Giulia Sprint GT Veloce, and early GT 1300 Junior with flat dashboard - featured this item on the right hand side.

In 1968 the RHD GT 1300 Juniors still retained their flat top dash.

From 1968 onward, Alfa Romeo models for the US market were fitted with fuel injection systems instead of carburetors to comply with emissions control legislation. The only 105 Series models in which the classic twin-cam engine was fitted with fuel injection were the US market 1750 range, and the US market 2000 range which replaced the 1750s in mid-1972. No 105/115 series coupe models with 1300 or 1600cc engines were ever made with fuel injection.

In 1970 the Junior was revised a second time, and received the same nose treatment as the 1750 GTV, without the step but with only two headlights.

For 1972, new wheels featuring smaller hubcaps with exposed wheel nuts like those on the 2000 GTV were fitted. At the same time, the GT 1600 Junior was introduced alongside the GT 1300 Junior. The GT 1300 Junior was discontinued for the right hand drive UK market but continued to be available in other right hand drive markets.

From 1974 the GT1300 Junior and GT1600 Junior were both rationalised into a common range with the 2000 GTV and were rebadged as 1.3 GT Junior and 1.6 GT Junior.